The invention concerns a connection element with a uniform cross-section for connecting a sheet pile to a carrier element. In addition, the invention concerns a combination sheet pile wall with such a connection element.
Connection elements of the type mentioned above are used to erect so-called combination sheet pile walls. A combination sheet pile wall is an arrangement of carrier elements and sheet piles where at least one sheet pile is placed between each of two carriers, for example I-beams. The sheet pile is coupled with the carrier element using the connection element named above.
For connecting the connection element to the carrier element, the base strip of the connection element is attached at the carrier element. If the carrier element is provided with fastening sections such as flanges, then the base strip is equipped with a suitable attachment profile that is used to slide the base strip onto the fastening section of the carrier element. However, if the carrier element is a carrier element without any additional fastening sections, like a tubular pile or a comparable carrier element, then the connection element is designed as a weld-on profile and is connected positively by welding it to the carrier element prior to piling.
Coupling of the sheet pile with the connection element is carried out using an interlocking profile that is designed at the connection element and in which the pile sheet interlock engages.
Combination sheet pile walls have a variety of applications and find particular use in coastal sections as bank support and as floodwater protection devices. The sheet pile interlocks as well as the interlocking profiles of the known connection elements are designed even for the tough application conditions that occur on the coast and can withstand the forces caused by the earth masses as well as those that arise from the surging seawaters.
However, the use of the known combination sheet pile walls in coastal sections of the arctic circle poses problems because, in addition to the typical forces acting on the combination sheet pile walls, in particular on the sheet pile interlocks and the engaged interlocking profiles of the connection elements, extreme forces caused by pack ice are present during the winter months. For example, the coastal sections ice over entirely during the winter months and sheets of pack ice are driven by the ocean currents towards the coastal sections, where sheets of ice tower up in meters high pack ice walls that press against the combination sheet pile walls.
The past has shown that the combination sheet pile walls that were provided for the protection of these coastal sections were not able to withstand the forces caused in particular by the pack ice. The sheet pile interlocks, in particular locks of the so-called LARSSEN type (DIN EN 10248-2 and E 67 of EAU 2005), break at an above average frequency, especially in those areas where the sheet piles engage with the connection elements. One reason for this may be that the sheet pile interlocks are not able to make sufficient evasive movements in the interlocking profiles of the connection elements.